EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Clippers forward Elton Brand will have surgery on Tuesday to repair a rupture in his left Achilles tendon.

The operation will be performed in Wilmington, Del., by Dr. Craig Morgan.

Brand, 28, injured the tendon during his daily workout last Friday.

He averaged 20.5 points and 9.3 rebounds last season.

As we reported on Friday, Brand and his representatives have a longstanding relationship with Morgan that dates back to 2002 when the orthopedic surgeon repaired a cartilage tear in Brand's right knee.

Morgan must be good because flying 3,000 miles with a ruptured Achilles tendon -- even on this thing -- isn't something that seems all that appealing.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

Good news!

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I read an article about Juan Carlos Navarro and what it takes to "buy out" a foreign player to come to the states. Here's a quote:

"Navarro reportedly has negotiated a $2 million buyout from Barcelona, though another source puts the figure at closer to $3 million. Either way, he will be paying a big fee to come to the NBA. Because NBA teams can only contribute up to $500,000 to buy out a player, Navarro would have to cough up the rest."

This would mean that although the Clips would be limited to pay $500K for SOFO, SOFO would have to cough up the rest, and that could be in the millions of dollars...

So, unless the Clippers can offer some big $$$, which we all know the Clippers don't have (unless they decide to go way over the salary cap, which, unfortunately, I don't think will ever happen with Sterling ... our cries of, "SOFO, help us be contenders!" are pretty much wasted breath ...

That's just what I think ... don't the know the business side of basketball... just love the game and my Clips

Saitama, Japan. September the 1st. World Championship Semifinal facing Greece vs. USA. It was the first attempt for Greece to reach the final of a world basketball competition. As usual, the Greek squad started the game trying to impose its rhythm, a slow-paced tempo, to take control of the situation and dynamite the game in the last quarters. The results were mixed: the US team wasn’t feeling very comfortable on court, but the Americans still enjoyed a clear lead in the score. Then, a very special couple entered the game; they were Theo Papaloukas and…

The Hero:

Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Building a terrific pick-and-roll combo, they absolutely destroyed the American defense (or lack thereof). Sofo showed off his terrific combination of hands, quick feet, and brute strength, running the court extremely well in transition, setting outstanding picks followed by intelligent cuts to the hoop, and shredding apart the middle part of the US’s lackluster man to man defense. The end result? 14 points in 17 minutes on 6/7 shooting for Schortsanitis, and 12 stellar assists for Papaloukas.

Other Highlights:

Sofoklis finished the 2005/06 Euroleague season in spectacular fashion, with some flashes of dominance on the paint. He played his best game against Zalgiris, in a 25-point performance that completely destroyed the frontcourt defense of the Lithuanian team. Since then, he resigned with Olimpiacos, but has been permanently stuck in new head coach Pini Gershon’s doghouse for being completely out of shape, benched for 2 games in early December. His weight has ballooned up to around 365 pounds, and he is averaging less than 10 minutes per game in the Euroleague, although his production per minute is certainly there at 7.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. There has been plenty of talk of Schortsanitis’s comfortable $500,000 NBA buyout and the fact that the Los Angeles Clippers still hold his rights, but Big Sofo will have to get himself together if he’s to convince them to invest in a long-term contract.

The surgery was conducted by Dr. Craig Morgan, a Wilmington-based orthopedic surgeon, who afterward consulted with Clippers’ team physician Dr. Tony Daly.

Brand will wear a cast for six weeks, replaced by a walking boot for six weeks. He will remain in the eastern United States for the next two weeks, after which he will return to Wilmington for a follow-up examination and a probable adjustment to his cast.

He will then return to Los Angeles and is expected to begin a conditioning and therapy program designed primarily to maintain flexibility. This program will be monitored by the Clippers’ medical and athletic training staff.

No timetable has been set for his return to NBA action. The Clippers will provide status updates on Brand’s progress when it is deemed necessary.

sofoklis was big draft talk at the same time of darko milicic. but sofoklis was underage at the time, 17? so we couldn't draft him. but at least we were able to draft him when we could when no other team wanted to risk it. but look at how he tore up usa. he's ready for the nba but its up to us to bring him here, no other team can.

simple as this- he's going to make an immediate impact to the clippers and will probably make kaman look like crap

Clipper fans let's not give up on Kaman!! I believe that he is going to have some monster numbers. I mean we could all agree that he is capable of that!!! We saw a glimpse of that the previous season!! I don't know much about Sofo, but I would rather take my chances with PJ Brown if he is available.

We need the aggressive Maggette that we saw towards the end of the season! I want to see him do it offense and bring it on defense as well. Tim needs to earn his money by hitting those open 3pt shots!!
Let's not leave out Ross, I would like to see him more involve in the offense he has a nice jumpshot! And last our floor general Cassell needs to be out there for us!!!!

It perturbs me that you think QRoss has a "nice" jumpshot. When he was on the floor, the Clips were playing 4-on-5 offensively because he is flat out terrible. This allowed opponents to double team (and sometimes triple team) Brand more frequently, thus resulting in less productivity. If QRoss is going to be a poor man's Bruce Bowen, he at least needs to learn to hit the corner three like Bowen can.

Q. Ross does have a nice J up to about 19 feet. He shoots 47% from the floor mostly from his mid range jump shot. I agree however if he is ever going to command more than 10-15 minutes per game he needs to develop 3pt. range. He only shot 20% last year from the arc.

Also J-smooth you should note that if Cassell starts Q. Ross has to start also because somebody has to guard the other teams point guard. It sure won't be Mobley or Cassell. This is the lineup I think works best:
1. Cassell
2. Q. Ross
3. Maggette
4. Thomas (to stretch the defense)
5. Kaman

B. Knight, Mobley, and Thorton the main fire power off the bench. Korelev can play the 2 and 3 spots. Hopefully SOFO get signed so we don't have to watch Paul Davis.

Thomas to stretch the defense? He's got to hit the 3-ball to do that. I say we take a chance on Thorton and Davis. Let them develop with out Brand on the floor. I agree with the comments from way back, about forcing TT to earn his minutes from the bench.

Kevin, you probably misunderstood my comment about Ross. I'm not saying that he is going to be the #1 or #2 option, but since he is going to be out there in the court because he is our best defender let's run some plays for him. I mean we can go to the truth teller (internet) his field goal percentage was not terrible like you say Kevin (47% last year.)

As a Clipper fan and season ticket holder, I want to see that my team is giving their 100% every night. And it's important that everybody contributes so we are not depended on just one person.

Wally, while I cannot argue that Ross' FG% is 47%, I would like to know his percentage from outside of 12 feet. I am guessing it will be in the high 30's. Hopefully, Clippers management told Ross to shoot several hundred jumpshots each day this summer.